Fans of both ‘The Voice’ and ‘American Idol’ likely did a double take during ‘The Voice’ Season 27 premiere.
Fans of both “The Voice” and “American Idol” likely did a double take during “The Voice” Season 27 premiere, when a singer named Renzo took the stage to perform Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” in front of coaches Michael Buble, John Legend, Kelsea Ballerini and Adam Levine.
If the 33-year-old singer from Philadelphia seemed familiar to some viewers, it’s likely because of his impressive run on “American Idol” seven years ago, when he made it to the show’s top 10.
At that time, however, he auditioned with his full name, Dennis Lorenzo.
Here’s a look at Renzo’s tryout for “The Voice,” and highlights from his run on “Idol.”
The winner of The Voice Season 26
Who is Renzo on ‘The Voice’?
Ahead of his “Voice” audition, Renzo opened up about his upbringing in Philadelphia, sharing that he lost his father to gun violence when he was just 4 years old.
“That was really tough on me growing up. There weren’t really many people for me to like look up to and say, ‘Hey, I want to be like this guy,’” he told producers. “I had a lot of love from my mom, … but sometimes think about man, who would I have been if I had a dad?”
For Renzo, music was a refuge of sorts. He started singing when he was 4 — his mom recalled how her son would sing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with vibrato at that young age.
Eventually, in 2015, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue music. Even though he had a great run on “American Idol” and is now on “The Voice,” he continues to keep a day job teaching science.
Above all else, though, Renzo said his focus is family. He and his wife have two daughters, ages 7 and 1, and he has another older daughter who lives in Chile with her mom.
“Breaking that generational curse for my daughters and being a family person is so important to me,” he told “Voice” producers shortly before he took the stage to perform “Simple Man.”
“I’m singing a story that is so close to my heart,” he continued. “It talks about going through life and learning what it means to be a man. I’ve seen a lot of highs and lows. When you jump, your parachute will not open right away. But eventually it opens, and it says to me, never give up. So getting a chair turn, it would mean so much to me.”
Renzo auditions for ‘The Voice’
Historically, John Legend is one of the pickier “Voice” coaches and tends to be rather selective.
But during Renzo’s blind audition, Legend was the first coach to turn around for a chance at snagging the singer for his team. He was so set on getting Renzo that he even hit his “block” button to prevent Adam Levine from getting the chance to be his coach.
As Legend predicted, Levine did indeed turn around during Renzo’s performance of “Simple Man,” though the Maroon 5 frontman didn’t realize he was blocked until the song was over.
By the end of his performance, Renzo had gotten everyone but Ballerini to turn around. While the country singer noted that Renzo “deserved a four-chair turn,” she said she didn’t turn because she believed the other coaches would be a better fit for the singer.
Legend praised Renzo’s ability to bring his own style and interpretation to a Southern country-rock song.
“I hear the R&B influence, but you did a song that was unexpected for somebody that has that background,” he said. “I would love to coach you.”
Buble, who won the previous season of “The Voice,” praised Renzo’s artistry and said it didn’t really matter that Renzo’s style wasn’t quite in his wheelhouse.
“I think being a good coach is about listening,” he said. “I can help guide you. I want you to be a global megastar.”
In the end, Renzo selected Legend to be his coach — the first and only singer to join Legend’s team during the premiere episode. As Renzo left the stage, Levine — an original “Voice” coach who is back on the show after a six-year hiatus — lamented what could’ve been.
“This was a big mistake coming back!” he joked.
Renzo’s run on ‘American Idol’
Seven years before appearing on “The Voice,” Renzo was singing his heart out for “Idol” judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan.
As in his appearance on “The Voice,” Renzo spoke about the loss of his father on “Idol.” But he also shared how his grandparents bought him a guitar when he was 16 — and how the instrument inspired him to change his life for the better.
“That‘s what changed my life — strumming those guitar chords,“ he said on ”Idol.“ ”It was just like, ‘Man, this is what you should be doing.’ I’ve been singing and playing guitar ever since.”
He got nothing but praise from the judges.
“You made that thing … have all the soul that it needs,” Richie said of the guitar with a hole in it.
Bryan, meanwhile, said it’s singers like Renzo who are the reason he signed up to be a judge on “Idol.”
“He’s definitely going to bring some competition,” Perry said as Renzo walked away from his audition with a ticket to Hollywood.
He ultimately ended up making it to the show’s top 10 before being eliminated.
Maddie Poppe, a singer from Clarksville, Iowa, would go on to be the Season 16 winner — two years after she auditioned for “The Voice” and was rejected by all four coaches.
“I want people to know that even if you hear a ‘no’ from ‘American Idol,’ it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to make it. It doesn’t mean that you’re not good enough,” she previously told the Deseret News. “It’s important to not give up.”
